


Salvage

by vyxythepixie



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-28 13:07:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14449902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vyxythepixie/pseuds/vyxythepixie
Summary: The weight of the Infinity War has taken its toll on Thor. Hope arrives in the shape of mischief. Infinity War spoilers present.





	Salvage

**Author's Note:**

> IW broke me into a thousand pieces. I've begun to reconstruct them with this oneshot and hope it helps some of you, too!
> 
> For my Thor. I'm sorry for the pain of this movie on your birthday. I hope this is the antidote.

“I wish that it were you.”

The thunder god’s broken words mumbled past cracked lips. His body felt numb where he lay; a harder surface from the grass he had expected. The light was low and his mind playing tricks by the look of the familiar silhouette. His mind, or perhaps the strange eye the snarky rabbit had given him.

“Be careful what you wish for, brother.” 

It wasn’t possible. He wanted it to be, had desperately imagined that the owner of that voice had escaped death once again, but it was the vain hope of a fractured heart. 

“So this is madness at last. Grief has had its merry way and here I lie, its victim in my failure.” 

“Mad you may be, but I am no part of it.” The figure reached out; brought its hand to cup the side of Thor’s face. 

Thor gasped, rousing more fully. He stared in disbelief, tears forming fast. “L-Loki? How -? I watched you -.” He could not speak it. It did not matter that he had mourned Loki before. It was never easier and this loss had seemed more permanent than ever. 

“Die? Yes, I know. I was there.”

 Thor extended a hand toward Loki’s neck. To find tender flesh there would help further prove to him that his brother was not a fabrication of a grieving mind. 

Loki flinched from his touch. “An illusion. I am still marked by that foul hand. It will take time to heal.” He left Thor’s side only long enough to bring a chair to his bedside. Then he allowed Thor to clasp his arm as a constant assurance. 

“It took an extensive amount of my magic to survive,” he explained. “I could only hope that with my death he would be satisfied enough to spare you. He snapped my neck. That was no trick. My life clung by a thread. I remember nothing but darkness and the sound of the ship being torn apart. I was thrown by the blast, as you were; cast unconscious across space. I put myself into sleep as our father once did. I woke on the Commodore several days later. Brunnhilde found me.” 

“Valkyrie?” Thor tried to sit up. “Is she here?” 

Loki rested a hand on Thor’s arm. “While Hulk provided a distraction, she got clear with Korg and as many children as they could take. You were gone by the time she returned. We could not find you. Once we had got the last of our people to safety we set a course for Earth.” 

A delirious smile appeared on Thor’s face, the first genuine one in so long. “I must thank her. Without her we would be lost.” His smile faded when he saw Loki’s expression. 

“She’s gone, brother. When Thanos used the Gauntlet she vanished like the others. I took the ship’s controls and came to find you. You had collapsed beside your axe. I feared you were being extinguished as well but it was simply the weight of your loss. I’m truly sorry.” 

Thor pulled himself upright. “I failed to stop him.” 

“It is not over. There is yet time to reclaim what was lost.” 

Another small laugh left the god of thunder. “Heroism looks good on you, Loki.” 

“Oh, no,” Loki snorted. “It does not. Heroism got me murdered.” 

Thor sniffed. He grabbed Loki as gently as possible and pulled him into a hug. Loki did not resist, wrapping his arms around Thor in kind. 

“I was so desperate for you to come with me to Asgard,” Thor sobbed. “I tried to save them and they’re all gone, and then you… I had nothing. My life was worthless with you lost to me.” 

“I’m here.” Loki kissed Thor’s temple, a tender gesture he had not given for many years. “And we are going to save them. We’ll find Thanos, sever his arm with your axe, and use the Gauntlet’s power to undo this atrocity.” 

Thor looked up at his brother, more inclined to stare at his living face than register the details of the Wakandan medical unit. “Where is Stormbreaker?” 

Loki smiled wryly. “As is custom with your weapons, it stubbornly refused to be moved by my hand. I had to drag you without it, but I would presume it is where you left it.” He helped Thor to his feet, though it was clear from the way he breathed that he was still far from recovered. It was Thor’s turn to support him. 

“Loki?” 

“I will be fine. I promise. Go find what remains of your team and bring this to an end. And don’t even think of dying. Leaving me to be king is terribly selfish.” 

Thor laughed once more, heartily. He clasped Loki’s face dearly. 

“Go, Odinson,” the surviving trickster encouraged. “Avenge us.”


End file.
